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Utah issues first bad air warning for summer

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - 4:33pm

SALT LAKE CITY -- The first warning of the summer about rising levels of ozone is being issued in Utah.

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Smog fills the Ogden valley as the result of a temperature inversion, as seen from the North Ogden Divide, on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. (DJAMILA GROSSMAN/ Standard-Examiner)

Wasatch Front counties get an 'F' for air quality

Charles F. Trentelman Standard-Examiner

Last updated Wednesday, April 25, 2012 - 10:33am

The American Lung Association gave all five Wasatch Front counties a grade of "F" for air quality in its annual State of the Air report issued today.

Box Elder, Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties flunked on the association's three-year average for high-ozone days.

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Morgan ranked Utah's healthiest county -- again

Jamie Lampros Standard-Examiner

Last updated Monday, April 2, 2012 - 10:12pm

MORGAN — For the third year in a row, Morgan County is the healthiest county in the state, according to a national report.

The County Health Rankings report, conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, compares counties in a number of categories, including healthy behavior, clinical care and social and economic factors.

Schools, Air Pollution, Air Quality, Behavior, Box Elder County, Cache County, Davis County, Davis County Health Department, Economy, Employment, Health, Health Care, Health insurance, Lifestyle, Mammograms, Morgan County, Obesity, Poverty, Public Safety, Teen pregnancy, Tobacco cessation, Utah, Weber County, Weber-Morgan Health Department, Alcohol Read more Comments

Activists warn refinery expansion will harm air quality

Antone Clark Standard-Examiner

Last updated Friday, March 23, 2012 - 2:03pm

BOUNTIFUL — Local activists warn that there is more bad air on the horizon for Davis County residents, if area refineries are granted the necessary permits to expand their operations.

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Traffic congestion increases as parents pick up students at Syracuse Arts Academy in 2009. School officials, parents of students and area residents are concerned because the West Davis Corridor Alternative B would run just hundreds of feet from the school and an interchange would run through an existing parking lot. Many worry about increased noise and air pollution will affect the students' learning environment. (Standard-Examiner file photo)

Syracuse Arts Academy worries about corridor route alternative

Mitch Shaw Standard-Examiner

Last updated Saturday, March 17, 2012 - 4:50pm

SYRACUSE — One of the state’s final two options for the West Davis Corridor has officials at the Syracuse Arts Academy worried about the school’s future learning environment.

Education, Business, Agriculture, Air Pollution, Air Quality, Child learning, Child safety, Farming, Health, Housing, Learning, Medical, Noise, Protest, Traffic, Transportation, UDOT, Utah, Utah Department of Transportation, West Davis Corridor, Featured Read more Comments

More than vehicles, oil refineries pollute Utah's air; new website offers info

Loretta Park Standard-Examiner

Last updated Monday, March 12, 2012 - 7:45pm

Utahns can now learn what — other than cars — causes the winter pollution that so concerns the Division of Air Quality.

Snowblowers, domestic animals, farm machinery, graphic art chemicals and deep-frying equipment also add to the pollutants in the air, according to a DAQ report released Monday.

Air Pollution, Air Quality, Asthma, Bicycling, Child safety, Children, Davis County Health Department, Elderly, Emissions, Farming, Health, Mass transit, Motor Vehicles, Oil industry, Oil refinery, Pollution, Refineries, Refinery, Senior Citizens, Seniors, Utah, Weber-Morgan Health Department, Winter, Environmental Protection Agency Read more Comments

New air quality index created

Jamie Lampros Standard-Examiner

Last updated Sunday, February 12, 2012 - 11:59pm

OGDEN — Green, yellow, orange, red, purple and maroon.

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Herbert honors fallen Utah veterans and slain Ogden Officer Jared Francom at the State of the State address in Salt Lake City on Wednesday. At rear left is House Speaker Becky Lockhart. At right is Senate President Michael Waddoups. (TRENT NELSON/Pool photo)

Herbert lashes out at federal government in State of the State address

Josh Loftin The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, January 26, 2012 - 1:18am

SALT LAKE CITY -- During his annual State of the State speech Wednesday, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert vowed to continue defending the state against an "overreaching, out-of-control and out-of-touch" federal government.

Business, Schools, Air Quality, Alternative Energy, Democratic Party, Economy, Federal Government, Federal land, Gov. Gary Herbert, Jared Francom, Jobs, Medicaid and Medicare, Politics, Public land, Republican Party, State of the State, Teachers, Utah, Utah Legislature, Featured, Gary Herbert Read more Comments

Smog shrouds Ogden on Thursday. Weber County beat the rest of the Wasatch Front with the first “red” air day of the season on Friday. (NICK SHORT/Standard-Examiner)

Smog debuts in Weber County

Charles F. Trentelman Standard-Examiner

Last updated Saturday, December 10, 2011 - 12:36am

OGDEN -- Weber County beat the rest of the Wasatch Front on Friday for the dubious honor of having the first "red" day in this year's dirty-air season.

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WSU students share anti-tobacco initiative info with Ogden

Scott Schwebke Standard-Examiner

Last updated Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - 12:34am

OGDEN -- Representatives from Weber State University's Student Senate told the city council Tuesday night they are hopeful the school's administration will make the campus tobacco-free by 2013.

"Courageous leaders need to step up," Brady Harris, a student senator representing Weber State's Davis County campus, said following a council work session.

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Sequoia suffers from Valley's smog problems

Mark Grossi The Fresno Bee

Last updated Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 5:21pm

FRESNO, Calif. -- Amid the pines and incense cedar in Sequoia National Park, the five o'clock rush hour often is limited to squirrels, mule deer and the occasional skunk crossing the road.

Visitors see spectacular 13,000-foot peaks, the largest trees on the planet and far fewer idling cars than at Yosemite National Park.

So the downside here seems unbelievable: Sequoia's Ash Mountain entrance this year was the worst smog trap in the country.

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State now enforcing red air-day rules

Dave Greiling Standard-Examiner

Last updated Friday, November 4, 2011 - 9:50pm

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Division of Air Quality is now enforcing wood-burning restrictions on "red" air-quality days when the use of wood-burning stoves and fireplaces is prohibited because of poor air quality.

This is the time of year when DAQ's three-day forecasts track the hard-to-see particles caused primarily by vehicle emissions, wood-burning stoves and fireplaces that can shroud the valley in pollution-trapping inversions.

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Officials plan ahead to keep state's ozone pollutant levels down

Mitch Shaw Standard-Examiner

Last updated Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - 10:39pm

CLEARFIELD -- State planners are hoping to get ahead of the curve when it comes to clean air in Utah.

As the population increases, automobiles on state and local roads will do the same. More people and more cars means it will be more difficult to meet future air-quality standards in the state.

Kip Billings, an engineer with the Wasatch Front Regional Council, said council planners are developing ideas to meet tougher standards, particularly ozone standards, in the future.

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AP file photo
This file photo taken July 2005 shows fireworks exploding during the “Freedom Blast” Fourth of July festivities in Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. State officials are asking the EPA to exempt cities from penalties for excessive pollution caused by fireworks during the Fourth of July.

Bad-air spike on July 4 an 'exceptional event'?

Scott Schwebke Standard-Examiner

Last updated Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 10:31am

OGDEN -- The location of a state-operated air-monitoring station could have a bearing on readings that detected high levels of fine-particulate pollution from Fourth of July fireworks, says an Ogden fire official.

The monitoring station is near Jefferson Park, 3302 Grant Ave., which is a popular place for people to shoot off fireworks, city Fire Marshal Matt Schwenk said Monday.

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Officials defend pollution from fireworks in Ogden

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 12:39pm

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah officials are seeking an exemption from penalties for air pollution in Ogden caused by fireworks during Fourth of July celebrations.

The Division of Air Quality says the excessive pollution earlier this year should be considered an "exceptional event" under federal guidelines because Utah residents are exuberant about using fireworks.

The division is also seeking exemptions in Ogden and the southern Salt Lake valley for 2010.

The DAQ is currently accepting public comment on the requested exemptions for 2011 through Oct. 17.

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